Green happy with effort, but Comets lose again

Tye McGinn, Chris VandeVelde and Jason Akeson were a problem all night for the Utica Comets.And, in the end, they made the difference.

Travis Green was not happy with the energy level of his Utica Comets the last time out, a 3-0 loss to the San Antonio Rampage Wednesday.

He had no problem with the effort Friday, even if the result was a 3-2 loss to the Adirondack Phantoms before a sellout crowd of 3,815 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

“We played a good hockey game,” he said. “We had a couple of little details that allowed goals.”

The last one was scored by Tye McGinn with three minutes left in the game and sent the Comets (22-26-3-4, 51 points) to their third consecutive American Hockey League defeat. Utica has 21 games left, starting with one at Bridgeport Sunday, in its drive somehow get into the Calder Cup playoffs.

McGinn also scored the first goal of the game for the Phantoms, Rob Bordson added a goal scored, Chris VandeVelde had two assists, and Yann Denis made 27 saves as the Phantoms (23-27-0-3, 49 points) broke an eight-game winless streak. David Marshall scored his first goal of the season for the Comets, Benn Ferriero scored his team-leading 18th, and Joacim Eriksson made 23 saves.

McGinn, VandeVelde and linemate Jason Akeson were a problem for the Comets all night, skating with great energy, working the puck well deep in the offensive zone and creating numerous good chances. The final score came after Ferriero had tied the game at 10:36 of the third period, converting tic-tac-toe passes from Pascal Pelletier and Cal O’Reilly for a very pretty power play goal.

Seven minutes later, Akeson picked up a Comet turnover, pushed it ahead to create a 2-on-1 for McGinn and VandeVelde, and McGinn deked Eriksson and knocked in what turned out to be the deciding goal at 17:02.

“That’s a good line,” Green said. “We tried to match one of our top two lines with them all night. But we turned the puck over two times against them, and it ended up in the back of the net both times.”

Marshall, a former Quinnipiac University standout from Buffalo, Minn., had gone 44 games without scoring and was happy to finally have done so – his goal at 4:54 of the second period tied the game - but with reservations.

“To be honest, I should have scored on the next shift,” he said. “It should have been 2-1.”

Marshall agreed with Green that the effort was good, but suggested it has to be, especially with time running out on playoff possiblities.

“It’s gut-check time,” he said. “There are 25 games left (actually 21). We have a great team here. We’re going to make a push and it starts Sunday.”

McGinn’s first goal came when VandeVelde won a faceoff in the left circle back to Bruno Gervais at the blue line. Eriksson stopped Gervais’ drive, but McGinn popped in the rebound at 8:13. The Comets had some good chances in the period — and a 14-9 shot advantage — but couldn’t get anything past Denis. They made numerous opportunities in the second, too, even though they had to kill two penalties, and tied the game when Marshall took a pass from Patrick Mullen, put a shot off an Adirondack defender as he skated through the left circle, gathered the rebound and fired it home at 4:56.

Bordson put the Phantoms ahead early in the third when he fired from the right circle surprising Eriksson. Ferrier got that back with his goal, which broke an 0-for-14 power play drought, but McGinn came back with the winner. The Comets, who have scored just 16 goals in their last eight games, couldn’t match it.